Sweet Memory Lane on a bad day
by barbara.joann.miethke.1973
Summary: A quite peaceful morning takes a quite nasty turn for Marky and Dee Dee until they receive an unintendedly helpful hand from Oggy


A peaceful Autumn morning crept in to find Joey in a grumpy mood since some unfamiliar sounds which hadn't been noticed by Marky and Dee Dee had kept him from sleeping. Gnashing his teeth, Joey squeezed his eyes shut, desperately trying to get some rest. When the first rays of sun crept into the air vent the roaches called home and Dee Dee woke up trilling a good-natured "Morning!", Joey just snarled something indecent and turned to push his youngest brother out of the empty fish can bed the roach trio shared as a bed. Marky whose nose received a good fillip quickly left the fish can bed when Dee Dee hit the floor with a sob and whimper. The tall roach went to peek through the vent bars into the kitchen where Oggy was dishing out coffee and croissants with marmalade. Smiling in anticipation, Marky slid his tall and thin silver-grey body through the bars and approached the table. He looked at the breakfast Oggy had set out and leaned against Oggy's coffee bowl. When the blue cat threateningly lifted his fly swatter, Marky quickly flapped his wings and clarified that he had come forth just because of Joey being a real grouch this morning. Sighing in relief, Oggy broke a piece off his croissant and handed it to Marky who sat down on the edge of the table and cherished the buttery pastry. The tall roach couldn't help smiling when Oggy offered him a pipette of coffee as well.  
"What happened?" the blue cat asked. Just when Marky was about to tell about the morning's incidents, a very battered-looking Dee Dee showed up, sobbing silently. Obviously, Joey had taken out his frustration on the youngest brother with a really good thrashing. Dee Dee's orange face and bright blue body were littered with small wounds and numerous wales, as if both had been shredded. The sight made both Marky and Oggy gulp hard. Marky helped his little brother sit on the edge of the table, and Oggy offered him a piece of croissant with a pipette of coffee. Despite he had lost some teeth, Dee Dee gobbled down both in next to no time. Then, Oggy suggested a place to hide in the attic for the two roach brothers, a small birdhouse he had built at school. Marky and Dee Dee were taken with the miniature cabin built from popsicle sticks and made themselves comfortable inside.  
In the meantime, Joey's mood had cleared up after he had gotten some sleep and a snack. With pleasure, he sprawled his pink body across the bed, reminiscing about the times when it just had been him and his parents. A smile crept into Joey's purple face as he rested his head on his folded arms, remembering the games his mother had played with him and the very exciting trips with his father to the neighborhood rubbish bins and the local dump yard. But soon enough, Joey had discovered the advantage of Marky's lack of smartness. He snickered when he remembered the first horror story he had told Marky resulting in the younger brother waking up from his own screams for days. It had been even more fun to tell scary stories to Dee Dee since Dee Dee turned out to be scared of his own shadow.  
Joey collected his limbs to get up. Of course it had been nice to have some personal space once again but there was a distant assumption he'd better look after his brothers. Firstly, Joey peeked into the kitchen where Oggy had finished his breakfast and the dishes to leave the house. Then, Joey went to look at the rest of the house, using some pipes only he knew about since they were hard to pass for Marky and Dee Dee. Thus, it didn't take Joey long to reach the attic. He looked around the dimly-lit dusty room until a very familiar scent hit his nostrils. It was a mixture of Dee Dee's sweat that was toxic enough to melt metal and Marky's bad breath. Closing his eyes halfways, Joey followed the olfactory trace to the birdhouse that was covered with a protective piece of cloth and went inside to find his brothers resting on a small heap of molded birdseed, a stained checkered hanky covering them. While Dee Dee was chomping at the birdseed every now and then, Marky had dozed off, snoring quietly with his mouth slightly hanging open. Snickering, Joey pulled the hanky off his brothers. When this made Marky just grumble sleepily and Dee Dee not react at all, Joey cracked his knuckles and pinched Marky's leg, making the tall roach give out a shriek that snapped Dee Dee back into reality and wave his arms and legs in defense, delivering a light slap to Joey's face since the short roach hadn't thought of stepping back in time.  
"Well, guys, what's going on here?" Joey asked when Marky's shriek had died away. Hesitantly, Marky and Dee Dee explained that they just had decided to grant Joey some peace and quiet and had come across the birdhouse as a retreat of sorts. Slowly, a smile crawled across Joey's lips as he sat down next to Marky, snuggling against the amazing softness of the birdseed.  
"Not that bad, eh?" Marky asked sotto voce. Joey nodded, gently patting his shoulder. Then, he turned around to pat Dee Dee's wings as well. Knowing full well that this was the best apology or praise to be expected from his older brother, Marky smiled to himself.  
The roach brothers spent the rest of the day in the birdhouse until they became hungry. Using the familiar paths, Joey lead his brothers into the kitchen to grab a few snacks before returning into the vent to relax and watch TV.  
After searching the channels for a while, Joey found a movie the brothers had watched for a dozen times at least. While his brothers' noses were literally glued to the screen once again, Joey sat there reviewing the day that had taken a rather good turn after all. Joey considered the discovery of the birdhouse another hide-out for the roach trio. Not to mention that he had taken something from Oggy - even if it might be rubbish that might not even be missed at all. Joey shook his head slightly to shush the little voice of doubt that had been bugging him whenever his strategies wouldn't work out according to plan - which seemed to happen more often than not recently.  
But for now, Joey decided to let strategies be strategies. He turned off the TV and shooed his pouting brothers off to bed. He couldn't help laughing when he remembered a similar situation from their childhood. Their mother had done her best to send the trio off to bed early, resulting in Joey throwing a small tantrum and Marky trying to convince her with all of his charming attitudes - both to little avail. Dee Dee, however, who had been an infant back then just had fallen asleep in their mother's arms, letting her tuck him inoon enough


End file.
